Gov. Sam Brownback has been getting some pointed feedback on his Facebook page about his stance on an extensive anti-abortion bill.

Two Kansas abortion rights activists posted queries about their menstrual cycles on Brownback’s page last week as a sarcastic way of protesting the Legislature’s continued involvement in abortion.

Nicki Scheid, a member of the National Organization for Women’s Wichita branch, and Lawrence activist Jennifer Weishaar said they were particularly concerned about a provision in the bill that limits legal action a woman can take against a doctor who identifies fetal abnormalities during her pregnancy but doesn’t tell her.

Their comments sparked other postings from around the country with occasionally graphic anatomy questions.

Brownback spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, declined comment on the Facebook postings.

The Kansas House has approved a $14.1 billion state budget that cuts overall spending by about $600 million, or 4 percent.

House members voted 87-36 Monday on the bill containing the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The measure now moves to the Senate, which is working out details of its version of the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The House legislation also contains a provision to prohibit state employees from being involved in abortions.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the House added $29 million to help K-12 public schools grapple with high student enrollment.

The bill also retains a ban by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to deny food stamp benefits to some U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

Kansas is receiving a $4.4 million federal grant to continue efforts to turn around its persistently lowest-achieving schools.

The Kansas State Department of Education says the money will benefit seven schools in the Wichita, Kansas City, Kan., Topeka, Cherokee and Liberal school districts.

The schools have received funding previously from the U.S. Department of Education program, which requires districts to choose an aggressive turnaround model. One option is replacing the principal and improving the school through comprehensive reforms.

An eastern Kansas sheriff is calling a high school janitor a hero for pulling an elderly man from a burning car that had backed into a ditch.

Denny Gray and his wife, Lori, were headed home from the store earlier this month when he saw what he thought was a brush fire on the side of the road.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Gray, a custodian at Hiawatha High School, instead discovered it was a car that was on fire.

Gray ran to the vehicle and found 94-year-old Gerry Alkire of Hiawatha trapped inside. He pulled Alkire, who suffered only minor burns, to safety as tires started blowing out from the heat.

Brown County Sheriff John Merchant said Gray was a hero for risking his life to save another’s.

Court documents show a Kansas military school accused of fostering a culture of abuse has been repeatedly sued by parents.

St. John’s Military School is due in federal court Tuesday. The Salina school is seeking a gag order prohibiting people involved in the case from publicly talking about the current litigation or past lawsuits that ended in settlements.

But evidence in the public record allege long-running abuses. Nine other abuse-related lawsuits have been filed since 2006.

One lawsuit included photos of a student who had been branded on his arm with a hot, star-shaped medal. A school official acknowledged in a deposition that at least 10 other students were similarly branded.

A cadet testified how higher ranking students would swat young cadets on their bare bottoms with ceremonial sabers.

Three people were injured in a rollover wreck Sunday, nine miles north of Ellsworth.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol report, 24-year-old Mala A. Alahmadi of Lawrence, was westbound on I-70 at about 2:15 p.m. Sunday when she was distracted by a cellphone and drove off the edge of the road into the median. Alahmadi then reportedly vercorrected and the car rolled three times before coming to a stop in the north ditch.

Alahmadi and two passengers in the car, 20-year-old Sunayn Mullick and 2o-year-old Mygabi A. Byenkya also of Lawrence, were taken to Ellsworth Medical Center. Their conditions have not been released.

Ohioans who have permits to carry concealed handguns will be allowed to do the same in Kansas under an agreement signed by the attorneys general in those states.

The same will be true for Kansas residents with valid permits who visit Ohio. People carrying concealed weapons in either location still must follow state laws on having, storing and using such firearms.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the deal he signed with Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt means Ohio has reciprocity agreements with a total of 23 states. Ohio law allows for such agreements with states where the eligibility requirements for carrying concealed weapons are “substantially comparable” to those in Ohio.

A 28-year-old Topeka man was charged Friday with sexually assaulting and killing an 8-year-old girl, whose family said she was sleeping when she was snatched from a neighboring apartment.

The capital murder charge filed against Billy Frank Davis Jr. in Shawnee County District Court gives prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty.

Davis was found hiding in a creek bed Tuesday morning, just hours after Ahliyah Irvin’s body was found and after a man matching Davis’ description tried to run inside an elementary school. Davis also is charged with rape of a child, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, burglary to a residence and criminal damage to property.

Davis, who had been placed on probation in another violent case just last week, is being held in the Shawnee County Jail on $10 million bond.

A worker at the Northeast Kansas Conflicts Office said there would be no comment from Davis’ attorney, Mark Manna. Calls to the prosecutor’s office rang unanswered, and the jail declined to leave a message for Davis.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported earlier that Ahliyah and her siblings had been living with a close family friend at a housing complex called the Highland Park Townhomes. After playing at a complex playground with other neighbor children Monday night, Ahliyah ate supper and fell asleep in the living room on the main floor.

Family friend Melinda Weeden stayed the night at the home of her daughter, Alysia Majette, after she got off work. Weeden said she was awakened around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday by Angela Ortega, Ahliyah’s mother, and was told the girl was missing.

Family members and friends frantically scoured the townhome and the complex. They even knocked on doors, including the one where Davis lived, Weeden said.

“He slammed the door in their face,” Weeden said.

The family called police minutes later and Ahliyah’s body was found at the complex within the hour.

Family members described Davis as an acquaintance of a family friend and said he had been living at the townhome complex at the time of Ahliyah’s death.

Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller has called the killing a “particularly heinous crime.”

Court records show Davis was sentenced last week to two years of intensive supervised probation after he was convicted of aggravated assault and aggravated battery. The charges stemmed from a Dec. 30, 2011, attack in a central Topeka apartment where gunshots were fired and a man was beaten with a chair.

That man, Larry Smith, told the Capital-Journal that Davis pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed.

According to judge’s notes contained in court documents, Davis was a veteran and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Corrections department records also show that Davis had prior convictions in 2009 and 2010 in Geary County that included criminal threat, domestic battery, criminal damage and violation of a protective order.

by Matt Unruh ~ Great Bend Post

Three people were killed in a two-vehicle accident Friday evening west of Hoisington.

According to a release from the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, 45-year-old Steven Lovesee of Kinsley was driving a Freightliner Semi-truck eastbound on K-4 highway, while 23-year-old Ronald Firmin of Zachary was driving southbound on Highway 281. Firmin failed to stop for the southbound stop sign at K-4 highway, and Lovesee attempted to slow down, but was unable to stop the vehicle. Firmin entered the intersection and struck Lovesee’s semi and both vehicles entered the southeast ditch. Lovesee’s semi-truck rolled onto its top.

Firmin, along with the two occupants in his vehicle 38-year-old Zulet Rodriguez-Harp of Great Bend, and 29-year-old Jeremy LeJune of Zachary were all pronounced dead at the scene. Lovesee refused treatment from Hoisington EMS. All occupants involved in the accident were wearing their seatbelts.

Great Bend Fire and EMS and the Kansas Highway Patrol assisted with working the accident.

The Kansas House has given strong support to a state policy reducing or denying food stamps to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

During debate Friday on a new state budget, the House voted 113-7 against forcing Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to reverse the policy. Almost 2,100 children lost food stamps after the policy took effect in October.

The policy altered how household incomes are calculated to determine eligibility for food stamps.

Previously, Kansas, like most other states, discounted a portion of a family’s income if some members couldn’t prove they were in the U.S. legally.

Backers of the change said the state had been discriminating against families with no illegal immigrants.

A senior U.S. official says the soldier accused in the killing of 16 Afghan civilians is Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into an incident that has roiled relations with Afghanistan.

American officials had previously said the suspect was a 38-year-old staff sergeant and that he had spent 11 years in the Army. But they had refused to release his name, saying it is military policy to publicly name a suspect only after he has been charged with an offense.

Bales, a husband and father of two, was serving on his fourth combat deployment in 10 years, the first three in Iraq. He was on his first tour in Afghanistan, where he’d been since December

One person is dead and another injured after a head-on collision on US-281 in Stafford County, shortly before 7:30AM Friday morning.

Killed was 40-year-old Jeffrey Ehlert of Haysville. The other driver, 22-year-old James W. Abel III, was taken to the Stafford County Hospital for treatment.

Ehlert was southbound on U-S 281, while Abel was northbound. Ehlert apparently crossed the center line striking Abel’s semi.

Authorities are reporting that heavy fog could be to blame for the head-on collision between the two semis.

Estimated visibility in the area was reportedly less than 300 feet.

The Kansas House is preparing to debate a proposed $14.1 billion state budget that has drawn bipartisan criticism over withholding of some education funds.

The measure on Friday’s House agenda sticks closely to many of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s spending recommendations for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It would cut overall state spending by about 4 percent, or $616 million.

But it doesn’t include $29 million sought by Brownback to cover higher-than-expected costs incurred by school districts in the current academic year. Without that money, districts would have to use their reserves.

Republicans backing the bill defend it as responsible. It could leave the state with more than $500 million in cash reserves at the end of June 2012, depending on how much lawmakers cut taxes.